User Reviews

Before I begin my review, I just want to note that I want to support local breweries and brews... I really really do, but... this beer is just not good... I highly doubt this is how the brewers originally intended this beer to taste like.

A: Black/Dark brown with some reddish tint. 1 finger mocha head.

S: Smells like cherry. Some sour note... not much stout-like notes. alcohol, hops, and sourness.

T: The bottle says that it was aged in brandy barrel for 6 months... I don't pick up any of that. Instead what I get is sour cherries. Some chocolate, some hops... no vanilla, no brandy barrel character... I just taste sour cherries, some chocolate, some hops, and some roasty malts. Sour finish. Not pleasant. I love sours but this isn't pleasing. Maybe it's infected?

M: medium thinness, alcohol burn, and some puckering from the sourness.

O: I will be switching back to my other local favorites... this is my 3rd beer from Two Beers and they were all mediocre at best.

I'd been somewhat looking forward to this though I'm not sure why as I don't really seem to care for much of Two Beers stuff, and the whole imperial stout thing is old hat. I do like some switchbacks though.

Ebony body, motor oil, no head. Aromas of dark charred malt, licorice, dark fruit. A nice beer, with bold flavors, but a little late to the party to roll out a standard fare RIS. Not going to buy any bottles of this...

Poured into an Elysian snifter. Pours absolutely pitch black with a thin medium brown head that dissipated to a ring around the glass with light lacing. Complex aroma of dark toasted malt, chocolate, licorice, pitch, smoke, a hint of vanilla and oak. Flavor of dark toasted malt, smoke, dark fruit, dark concentrated fortified wine, vanilla, wood and unidentifiable spices. Medium bodied and almost too light for an imperial stout. An unusually flavored RIS, at first it seems a little thin for an imperial stout, but the flavors develop nicely and are unusual and well chosen. A really exceptional residual aftertaste that reveals more light smoke and other flavors. Not a tradition RIS, but a very interesting and fun to drink one. I had to really pace myself because I wanted to take one more sip to try at identifying flavors. The high ABV is (too) well covered. A promising start for a "big beer" series. I will be looking for more bottles to cellar.

Black as night with a tan two finger head that recedes quickly into a lasting ring. Thick, oily body which supports flavors of huge dark chocolate, vanilla, raisin, blood orange, cedar shavings, coffee, cherries, whiskey, brandy, port, clove, kumquat and banana, and a touch of smoke in the rather lengthy, luxurious finish.

This strikes me as almost a Quad (in the Rochefort 10 style)/Russian Imperial Stout hybrid, and I mean that in a really good way. I agree with the prior reviewer that it’s a bit hot, but I find that heat quite pleasant, and more than a bit of a flavor-binding catalyst... I also think that when it dies down a bit, and the flavors have a better chance to blend, this will improve with the additional aging. Along with Fremont Bourbon Abominable, this is at the top of my list of Washington State brews. Kudos, Two Beer Brewing!